1. Field
Embodiments relate to a drying machine for adjusting/controlling load driving to achieve power saving.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the development of Information Technology (IT), the number of household appliances powered by electricity is rapidly increasing, in turn leading to increasing power demand and consumption. In order to satisfy such increased power demand, the number of power plants is rapidly increasing. However, as can be seen from a power demand pattern, peak capacity is not reached during most days of the year. Therefore, power plants only operate at full capacity during a few days out of the year.
A state in which a high power demand is required for a short time is called peak load. Construction costs for adding an additional power plant to the grid are extremely high and maintenance costs for power plants constructed to maintain peak load for a short period are considerable.
Recently, numerous developers are conducting intensive research into a demand management method for temporarily restricting power consumption by limiting peak load without constructing such additional power plants. For the aforementioned purposes, demand management is a focus of attention, and a great deal of research is focused upon an advanced demand management format for demand response (DR).
DR is a system for intelligently managing energy consumption depending upon variation in power rates. For example, the consumer may temporarily stop an air-conditioner so as to reduce power consumption when power rates are high.
By the DR system, a power-supply source can alter end user power consumption to achieve load balancing and can restrict end user power consumption to periods when demand is low, thereby reducing the user's overall energy expenditure.
Therefore, a smart electric device to which demand response (DR) is applied has been developed, and an energy management system (EMS) for controlling the driving of the smart electric device has been developed. That is, the EMS informs the user of power rate information, and is turned on or off in response to the power rate information.
Accordingly, it is impossible to obtain the result at a user desired time. Specifically, the drying machine, or dryer, heats air and dries laundry using the heated air. The drying machine has high instantaneous power and high power consumption. That is, if power rates are high, it is very important to control the driving of the dryer.
Upon receiving power rate information from the power supply source, the drying machine is turned on or off on the basis of the received power rate information.
As a result, the drying machine stops operation during a time zone of high power rates and is driven during a time zone of low power rates. In this case, electricity bills can be reduced, but it is impossible for a user to obtain dried laundry at a desired time.
In addition, when the drying machine is driven in the time zone of high power rates, the operation states of all constituent elements are simultaneously deteriorated and the drying machine dries laundry, it is difficult to satisfy a user-desired degree of laundry dryness.